Falling Leaves 29 ??

  Back in the swamp Akuji and Kiyoko rush through the trees, jumping on lily pads to cross the waters.

  They make their way to another platform of trees, black gas with purple particles float past them, surrounding the Soul Trees.

  The Soul Trees scream, the sound of multiple voices echo from them.

  Kiyoko and Akuji stand on a lily pad, Kiyoko runs to Akuji holding his arm. “Okay what’s going on?!”

  The muddy water sways, Akuji freezes. “Is that?”

  Growling can be heard from the group of trees mixing with the screams, manic laughter follows suit.

  Kiyoko shakes. “I think we went too deep in!”

  “No—- I know what this is—- she was here—-” Akuji mutters.

  “Oh great! Who now?! Another one of your girls?!”

  “It’s the Berserker Virus—-”

  “Reserai—- she was-”

  “JE ME SENS TELLEMENT BIEN CE MOMENT!!” (I feel so good right now!) a distorted voice screams from the batch of trees.

  “GWHAHAHAHAH!!!”

  Akuji grits his teeth. “We need to go! Hey summon your wings again!”

  “Berserker what?! Why is it always something with you!?” Kiyoko holds onto him tighter.

  The trees rustle, the bushes move, something creeps out of the shadows facing the two.

  A creature with the head of a sunflower, its skin a deep purple, it has wide eyes that swirl as if it’s dizzy.

  Its arms are leaves, its slim body holds its head, arms and legs together by small branches, it wears a faint smile on its face, taking up half of it.

  Akuji lets out a sharp sigh. “I really don’t feel like fighting DRUG INDUCED SPIRITS RIGHT NOW!”

  The plant spirit looks at the two on the lily pad. “Bonjour, les amis ! Venez me rejoindre aujourd’hui!” (Hello, friends! Come join me today!)

  It tilts its head, its smile grows larger. “Je m’amuse beaucoup, énormément même!” (I’m having a lot of fun, a huge amount of fun, in fact!)

  Kiyoko trembles. “Akuji let’s get out of here!”

  Akuji stares at the creature, purple particles radiate off it, he thinks to himself. “Reserai you know I usually support your little selling drug business! But come on this is the worst possible time!”

  “And the fact I can’t even use my own Berserker Virus to counter this!”

  “Shit!” He grabs Kiyoko’s arm.

  “Hurry and sprout your wings!”

  “O-okay!!” Kiyoko jumps on Akuji’s back, her wings spread.

  She flaps them and they start to fly away, the lily pad is pushed down from the force, water splashes upwards.

  The sunflower spirit looks at them. “Oh non, ne pars pas! Amusons-nous!!”

  It rips off one of its leaf arms, starts to spin in a circular motion, its speed increases, the ends sharpen.

  The leaf spins as it chases down Akuji and Kiyoko in the air, the sound of the air cutting in half reaches them. Akuji turns his head back.

  “Turn to the left!”

  Kiyoko closes her eyes and uses her entire body weight to turn, spiraling downwards, barely dodging the leaf blade.

  The two fall towards the muddy waters, Kiyoko tries to flap her wings and pull her weight up before they drop in it.

  They’re about to fall in, Kiyoko starts to glide over it, straining her wings. “Eugh!” she grunts.

  Some of the water splashes on Akuji’s chest, it instantly starts to burn. “AGH! Damn!”

  “What happened!”

  “The water! It’s some type of damn acid!”

  The sunflower spirit stands on the landmass, his leaf returns to him like a boomerang.

  It smiles and starts to hop on the lily pads chasing the pair. “Non, non, non, ne cours pas!” (No, no, no, don’t run!).

  It removes his other leaf on his right, repeats the same actions, firing it at the two.

  “JEJEJEJEJEJEJE!!” it laughs.

  A shadow appears under the water, something bursts out of it. A frog spirit with two bulging white eyes, wearing a red gown as if it’s a wizard.

  “Hé, ?a vous dérange ?! Certains d’entre nous essaient de dormir ici ?!” (Hey, mind you? Some of us are trying to sleep here!) it lands on a lily pad in front of the sunflower spirit.

  The Sunflower Spirit doesn’t falter, continues to move, it sticks its left leaf arm out, it starts to glow purple.

  “BOUGEZ !” (Move!)

  “Eh?” The Frog Spirit grunts and quickly ducks the Sunflower’s slash.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  It croaks, its cheeks puff, instantly it opens its mouth letting out a beam of sound waves. “REEEEEEEPPPO”

  The Sunflower continues to smile and tries to block with one leaf arm.

  The waves hit, it’s blown back, the water around it getting pushed back with the sound waves causing a current of acidic water to spray towards the Soul Trees.

  “EHHHHHGGH!” The Sunflower Spirit screams, the water covers it, getting pushed back.

  Its body starts to burn, its plant like body starts to break apart.

  The sound of the Frog’s attack ripples across the entire swamp, Akuji instinctively puts his hands above his head covering Kiyoko’s ears.

  He faces the sound waves, his ear drums pulse, an instant migraine hits him. “Errggg!”

  “Akuji!” Kiyoko shouts. “Hold on I’ll get us to safe-”

  She’s about to finish, blood drops in front of her. Her body grows numb for a moment, her vision starts to fade.

  The Sunflower spirit’s leaf blade strikes her on her back, causing a giant slash to spread across her, blood sprays out.

  Her wings continue to glide, they start to lose momentum. “Hey what’s wrong?! Are you good?!” Akuji screams.

  They head for another patch of Soul Trees, a trail of blood leaks from Kiyoko dropping into the water.

  The blood creates a line as she continues to crash forward. Her wings tense up as she lands in the patch.

  Akuji wraps his arms around her, they both skid and roll on the ground, bruises appear on her body, blood starts to leak from wounds.

  “Ugh!” Akuji hisses, he holds Kiyoko close to his chest, her eyes are shut, her white robe is stained with red with mud mixed in.

  The Soul Trees around them all turn their focus to the two, branches start to move and stretch, they start to get closer to them on the ground.

  “Alimentation.” (Food.) They whisper, the branches grow closer.

  Akuji’s eyes burst open. “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM US!” He grabs one of the branches and rips it off one of the soul trees.

  One starts to scream in pain, all the branches retreat.

  Akuji holds Kiyoko close. “Hey, wake up! Come on! Please!”

  “You can’t die on me damn it! Please wake up!”

  Her wings droop, blood stains the white color turning them a deep red.

  “Fuck!” He holds her tight.

  For the first time, in eons the feeling of true loss fills his heart. “This—- this can’t be happening—-”

  “First Danya—-. Now you—- what’s next!”

  The sound of the Frog Spirit firing another sound wave echoes in the distance.

  The Sunflower Spirit’s laughter can be heard in the mix.

  They battle, the Sunflower Spirit’s body starts to break down from the acid.

  It drops to its knees, continues to smile. “C’était tellement bon—-” (It felt so good—-”) its voice lowers.

  “Tellement tellement tellement bon—-” (So, so, so good.)

  The frog prepares another sound blast, its cheeks puff up.

  The sunflower starts to wither, its eyes turn from swirling to normal, its smile fading.

  “C’est donc la fin pour moi ?” (So this is the end for me?)

  It looks at the frog as it continues to charge its attack.

  “Rencontrer cet esprit de la mort m’a conduit ici.” (Encountering this spirit of death led me here.)

  It chuckles. “Mais je ne peux pas dire que je le regrette.” (But I can’t say I regret it.)

  It sees a woman stand in front of the Frog Spirit, she wears a kimono with a hood over her face, her skin is pale, she smiles with two fangs showing. Pink light gleams from her eyes under the hood.

  “Reserai merci de m’avoir permis de vivre cette expérience.” (Thank you for allowing me to have this experience.)

  The frog spirit fires the attack. “REROOOOOOOOO!!” The sound waves reach the sunflower spirit as it hits, tearing its body apart. More of the acidic water gets blown back hitting the Soul Trees, the force of the sound waves breaks them apart.

  The sound waves spread through the entire area reaching Akuji and Kiyoko.

  Akuji holds Kiyoko tighter, covering her ears once more. The sound waves hit him, his ear drums burst, blood gushes out of his ears. “AGH!” Blood spits up from his mouth.

  The entire area shakes, the Soul Trees break apart and scream.

  The sound waves stop, Akuji’s ears ring, he lets go of Kiyoko and drops to the ground.

  “It’s over—- I just have to accept I’ll die here—-” Akuji thinks to himself.

  “I never thought this place would be this much of a challenge for me—-”

  “Heh—- even for us Death Spirits it’s giving us hell—- I have to give it its credit—- at least no one can say they killed me.”

  His vision blurs as he tries to crawl.

  “Killed by a biome, that’s better to be remembered by.”

  The sound of leaves crunching approaches Akuji.

  Akuji uses what’s left of his strength to face the sky, he stares into it. A woman with pink eyes, dark brown skin, with a black curly Afro in a bun, wearing decorations of autumn leaves around her head.

  She looks down at him and waves.

  “Shit—-”

  “L’automne—- well we’re screwed—-” he thinks to himself.

  L’automne looks down at him and watches the blood leak from his ears and mouth.

  “Eh bien, eh bien, you been through quite a lot have you?”

  She giggles and turns to Kiyoko who’s lying face first on the ground, her hair scattered covering most of her face, her wings drooped on the ground, she’s covered in her blood mixed with mud.

  “She seems to have it worse, a shame L’ange you wouldn’t have to experience this if you didn’t betray us.”

  She summons her staff of light, taps the ground, leaves start to swirl around Akuji and Kiyoko, they lift them in the air.

  “Target acquired, mission accomplie.”

  They float in the air, L’automne stares into Akuji’s eyes, the violet color of them is dim, as if all hope has been shattered. She walks up to him, grabs him by his face, holding his cheeks, leaning closer.

  “I have to commend you, surviving Marais des méchants.” (Swamp of the wicked.)

  “Perhaps you’re more of a man than I thought.” She giggles, rubbing his chin.

  A thud lands behind her. “Hm?” she hums.

  She turns and spots the Frog Spirit as it points at her. “Qui êtes-vous ?! Encore un intrus dans ma maison ?!” (Who are you?! Another intruder in my house?)

  “Your house?—-”

  “Oh right, right, these type of Spirits live here.”

  She clears her throat. “Non, je ne suis pas là pour m’immiscer, je suis juste venu chercher quelques affaires.” (No, I’m not here to interfere, I just came to pick up a few things.)

  The Frog Spirit croaks. “Non ! Je dis qu’il faut laisser ces deux-là ici ! C’est normal, puisque vous êtes chez moi.” (No! I say leave those two here! It’s only fair since you’re in my home.)

  L’automne chuckles, the Soul Trees groan. “Votre maison ? Excusez-moi, mais nous sommes dans un lieu public.” (Your house? Excuse me, but we’re in a public place.)

  Leaves fall off the trees, tiny weeps come from them, they fall between L’automne and the Frog Spirit, instantly changing color. The moment they fall in front of L’automne they turn yellow and brown.

  “Vous ne possédez pas La Marais des méchants.” (You don’t own the Swamp of the wicked.)

  The falling leaves start to glow, the Frog Spirit puffs out his cheeks.

  “Vous ne pouvez pas me dire ce que je peux ou ne peux pas posséder !!!” It yells as it prepares for an attack.

  L’automne smiles and raises her arms, the leaves start to glow brighter. “C’est dommage, tu aurais pu t’en sortir.” (A shame you could have walked away.)

  “Tu deviendras le cadavre même qui nourrira ce marécage que tu considères comme ton foyer.” (You will become the very corpse that feeds this swamp you consider your home.)

  The Frog Spirit is about to fire a blast of sound waves. One of the falling leaves fires a beam, piercing it in the chest.

  Its eyes pop, the energy collected to blast its magic disperses in its mouth. Purple blood gushes out.

  More beams fire, piercing it all over its body.

  L’automne watches, the beams light up the area, the Frog screams in agony, the beams continue to fire from different leaves.

  Her cloak flutters, her strands of hair blow back.

  The barrage stops, the frog spirit stands there, his body filled with holes, purple blood floods over, staining the grass below.

  A yellow leaf lands on its head, it falls over in the pool of its own blood.

  The leaf starts to wither, L’automne smirks, turning her back.

  She starts to float in the air, the leaves carrying Akuji and Kiyoko follow.

  She looks down at Akuji and lets out a soft giggle. “Ma grandeur, I got him.”

  She picks up the speed and rushes back to Refuge-des-Esprits.

  The swamp below remains in ruins, the Soul Trees start to sap the nutrients out of the Frog Spirit’s body.

  A biome that is a true hell for everyone and everything in it.

  END